Music Television 5

Belladrum: Kyle Falconer / Black Water County
The band went first, then Kyle did an acoustic bit and gave a brief interview too.

BBC6music Festival '22: Father John Misty
To the St Davids Hall in Cardiff, as the doughty singer-songwriter delivered quite a long set. You'd have thought he was a Beatle or something, rather than someone with no hits to his name.

Pearl Jam - Twenty
From 2011, as Eddie and the others told the full story of Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog, and finally Pearl Jam.  Alive and Jeremy remain impactful all these years later, but they had the Roskilde tragedy to cope with along the way.

Rip It Up Unwrapped - Sounds of New Scotland
Tips for the future (well, in 2018 anyway), and somewhat soberingly, the only name who actually did achieve anything since then was Kathryn Joseph.

Belladrum '22 - Tamzene / I See Rivers
Another batch of highlights from the summer, though Tamzene did at least get a chat too.

Inside Classical: Radio 1Xtra's Afrobeat Concerto
To Salford, where the BBC Philharmonic provided backing for 5 artists to do a few numbers. They were Sakodie, Maleek Berry, Nikita Kerry, Pheelz and headliner Ckay. A fairly decent idea.

Amy Winehouse - Under Review
Robert Elms and other predictable types told the familiar story, although at least the first album was given more consideration than usual. Geno Washington was much the most interesting contributor, clearly taken with Amy (this was made in 2007, before things went more downhill), and he gave a great sideways jab at Whitney Houston for not writing her own stuff, thus diminishing her claim to greatness.

Petula Clark in Concert
From the Royal Albert Hall, London, in 1974, quite a lengthy show, with an interval (of sorts), and material from her already busy and long career, plus songs like Without You, Mona Lisa and You've Got A Friend.

I Dream Of Wires
An impressively definitive look at the story of the synthesizer, from the early days of Bob Moog, through commercial developments and evolutions from analogue to digital and for some, back to analogue. A wealth of names from Gary Numan and Trent Reznor, through to Vince Clarke and John Foxx. One of several really impressive docs on electronic music I've seen this year.

BBC6music - Johnny Marr - Live at the Great Hall, Cardiff
He's had a few solo records since the days of the Smiths and Electronic, but he also included many tracks from both of these. Because his vocal style is fairly different to Morrissey, it means those songs sound different and yet still impressive.

Loop - The Ayoub Sisters
A short feature on classic musicians who originate from Egypt but now reside in Scotland, pushing their 2nd album Arabesque, and playing El Helwa Di, from it.

A Stormzy Special
Trevor Nelson went to Studio 2 at Abbey Road Studios so that Big Mike could do three numbers and talk about his new 3rd album. He has respect for many other musicians from Frank Ocean to Adele to Ed Sheeran. The album was made at a studio on Osea Island in Essex. They discussed the infamous longform video to Mel Made Me Do It.

BBC 6music Festival '22: Self Esteem
One of the star bands of the year, they did a spirited set for a lively crowd.

Don McLean and Friends in Concert
Those friends being Elkie Brooks, and the Jordanaires, in this 1978 show. Don opened with American Pie and closed with Vincent.

Artists Den presents Corinne Bailey Rae
She was at the Hiro Ballroom in NYC pushing her "The Sea" album in this 2009 show. She got some backstage chat in amidst the performances. It's maybe a shame that Put Your Records On was such a success, it's overshadowed everything else she's tried to do.

Lleisiau Eraill (Other Voices) - Aberteifi 2022
Huw Stephens presents highlights from Cardigan, with performance and chats from Band Pres Llareggub, Gwenno, Catrin Finch, Stella Donnelly, Sage Todz and Lemfreck.

Who Killed The KLF?
Entertaining and fairly comprehensive account of how Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty found their way to the centre of pop in 1991, and then pushed their luck by burning £1 million. It seemed to be that the latter spectacle still outshines the impact of their brief chart glory and increasingly heady stunts.

Arena: Jerry Lee Lewis - Live In Bristol
A modest show from April '83, with a mixture of familiar and less familiar works, and some variable banter between numbers. He included Mona Lisa, Chantilly Lace and Me and Bobby McGee along the way.

Grunge: A Story of Music and Rage
A fairly potted account of Seattle and beyond, with some archive of the three guys from Nirvana as well as Eddie Vedder and Thurston Moore, otherwise somewhat minor seeming people who at least got the chance to have themselves heard.

Liam Gallagher: Live at Knebworth '22
As Oasis did big gigs there, so now Liam did. He mixed his own solo stuff with classic Oasis numbers, including an encore of Champagne Supernova which featured Stone Roses guitarist John Squire.

Piano Greats at the BBC
A lengthy round-up which did eventually get to Neil Sedaka, but managed to omit Rick Wakeman, and even Les Dawson.

Witness - Presenting Princess Shaw
Sam Montgomery was a nurse in New Orleans with a good voice. Her YT channel caught the attention of Israeli musician Kutiman, who put a musical backing around her vocals, after which it went viral, and she went to Tel Aviv to do a live show, which went well. Rather more positive than her own adventures auditioning for The Voice in Atlanta.

Finders Keepers
Fluff film with Cliff Richard and the Shadows, reluctantly finding their Spanish gig is off because of a lost dropped bomb. They do Time Drags By twice, and though the title tune ostensibly ties in to the denouement, it isn't reprised to reinforce the point.

Radio 1 Big Weekend - Coventry 2022 - Koffee
A spirited little set, much like their Glastonbury one.

CNBC Conversation - Soo-Man Lee
He's the whizz behind SM Entertainment, a big noise behind the Korean Wave, or K-Pop. He was a folk singer in the 1970s and went into production. He's very proud of what he's helped do to make the music a global force. He seemed impressed by ideas like the metaverse. One band idea, NCT (New Culture Technology) is rebranded by numbers for different markets.

IDLES - Live at 6music Festival
From the Great Hall in Cardiff, quite a lengthy set for a band with no chart hit presence whatsoever. But the crowd liked it.

Radio 2 In Concert: Lewis Capaldi
He's Scottish and he's back, at the BBC Radio Theatre, London, and likely to be doing festivals a-plenty next summer.

Radio 1 Big Weekend: Coventry 2022 - Sigrid
Her 2nd album didn't seem to garner remotely the impact that the first did, but the crowd was happy and she's clearly got the tunes for the long haul.

Festliches Adventskonzert
From Dresden, a special concert for Advent, running a gamut from Saint-Saens and Back, through Handel and Strauss, to Faure and Franck. Impressive.

Cliff at Christmas
He did a new Christmas album this year, and this show from Hackney Church in London helped him sing some songs from it, interspersed with career chatter at Abbey Road with Sara Cox of all people. Andrea Corr was a guest, and he had a track whereby he could duet with some old vocals from the late Olivia Newton-John.

Mykki Blanco - Live at 6music Festival
More from St David's Hall in Cardiff, quite a steady set from someone I've never heard of before.

The Classical Collection - J.S. Bach
A collection of performances from the archives from 1961 through to 2015.

BBC Radio 2 Piano Room
Another compilation, fronted by DJ Ken Bruce, at the BBC's Maida Vale studios, where acts sang with the backing of the BBC Concert Orchestra. Michael Buble, Paolo Nutini and Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott are very much Brucian faves, whilst Sam Smith, Sigrid, Craig David and Olly Murs were for a more modern audience.

George Ezra - Live at Radio 1's Big Weekend, Coventry
A lively enough rundown, his 3rd album seems to have kept him in the good graces, and he closed on Shotgun.

The Classical Collection: Daniel Barenboim
Performances as pianist, as conductor, and a few talk show bits too.

The Vienna Christmas Concert
David Afkham conducted the Vienna Symphoniker at the Stephensdom in Vienna, through a lengthy programme including works by Bach, Saint-Saens, Faure, Gounod, Franck, Humperdinck, Mendelssohn, Strauss and Regev.

Capital FM's Jingle Bell Ball - Highlights
2 shows from the O2 Arena, linked by Roman Kemp. Acts included Mimi Webb, Tom Grennan, KSI, Sam Ryder, Sam Smith, Lewis Capaldi, Coldplay, Dua Lipa, Aitch, Becky Hill, George Ezra and Stormzy.

Celebrating the Music of the Movies
Billed as the "10th Classic FM live Concert", this had Kirill Korabits conducting the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, through film themes from the everything from Jurassic Park to Amelie to 2001 to Wilde to Back to the Future.

The Classical Collection - Neglected Masterpieces
A round-up with some surprises, but expected names like Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Clara Schumann were included too.

Witness - El Arena
How some guys in Lebanon started their own battle rap club, but the 2020 explosion and subsequent political crises have made things more difficult.

The Classical Collection: Christmas
From Prokofiev to Vivaldi, Britten to Handel, and Berlioz to Mendelsson.

Cliff Richard at the Royal Albert Hall
From 1982, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, he ran through some expected hits and much that was less expected. 

Britain's Favourite Christmas Carol
A Top 20 rundown from some poll, with assorted celebrities sharing thoughts. Silent Night got the nod, ahead of Away In A Manger.

Christmas in Ireland, with Imelda May & friends
From the Pepper Canister Church in Dublin, with guests like Sharon Corr, Jack Lukeman, John Sheehan, Glen Hansard and many more.

Kylie - Infinite Disco
A livestream concert she made during lockdown in 2020, with quite a lot of dancers around, again a mixture of familiar hits and some less familiar numbers.

Artists Den presents Vampire Weekend
Back in December 2013, they did a show in New York which was popular with the crowd, but didn't give much indication that they had legs beyond the hit A Punk.

Britain's Favourite Rock Hits
Mercifully, not a rundown or countdown, just a bunch of chatters discussing familiar choices like Won't Get Fooled Again or Bohemian Rhapsody or Stairway To Heaven, and so on. The odd oddity such as representing Hendrix for his cover of All Along The Watchtower. Think Enter Sandman and Smells Like Teen Spirit were about as recent as it got. They ended with Smoke On The Water with Deep Purple looking somewhat careworn these days (and no Roger Glover).

The Nation's Favourite Christmas Carols
Unlike the other similar show, this was a live concert from the London Coliseum, fronted by Myleene Klass and Chris Addison, with the English National Orchestra, and performers including Danielle de Niese and eventually Alfie Boe.

The Classical Collection: Sheku Kanneh-Mason
A round-up of the prodigious cellist, sometimes with his family.

The Classical Collection: Nature
As plausible a topic as any, really. Vivaldi and Schubert and Mendelssohn and Saint-Saens and Schumann and Sibelius and Murray Gold. Eh?

Sam Ryder Rocks New Year's Eve
One of the stars of the year, with some guest work from Sigrid and Mel C, but mainly delivering a cover-heavy two-part set either side of Midnight. He did Spaceman at the start of the 2nd half, wisely, and finished on Proud Mary.

New Year's Day Concert 2023
Franz Welzer-Most conducted the Vienna Philharmonic this time, through a set notable for featuring Josef Strauss works more than any other, and for including a largely new set for this event - which is to say old tunes which just haven't been selected for performance here before. A good plan.

Avo Session - Earth, Wind & Fire ft Al McKay
They came to town in 2017 to play a broadly familiar sort of set, even if McKay was the most original line-up member from the heyday of the band. 

Christmas with Sir Cliff
Mike Read had a sit-down chat with the legendary singer and occasional film-star, partly to push his recent new Christmas-themed album, but also to talk through his movie career, some of the songs that came in the films, and some of the people he worked with. He made a conscious choice to move away from films in the 1970s.

Jools' Annual Hootenanny
Two hours to join two years together, with a mix of legends and more modern types. Having not been at his 30th anniversary gig a few months back, Ruby Turner was here, as were Andy Fairweather-Low, Gabrielle, Self Esteem, The Real Thing, Roland Gift, George Ezra and a seemingly new-ish vocal duo called Rachael & Vilray.

The Goodies - Almost Live
The last show in their 6th series, and a tacit acknowledgement of their off-screen/real-life chart success. The three members performed several of their hits, including Funky Gibbon, The Inbetweenies, Black Pudding Bertha, Please Let Us Play, and a somewhat dubious version of Wild Thing.

A Swingin' Christmas
The return (?) of the Len Phillips Swing Orchestra, again conducted by Joe Pettiti, here held at the Stables in Wavendon. Here they had vocal help from Gary Williams, Julia Sullivan, Ben Holder and a special guest turn from Mica Paris.

Belladrum '22: Colonel Mustard and the Dijon 5
They were back yet again, this time pushing an album called Peace, Love and Mustard. But of course.

Behind The Music: The Bangles
Originally from 2000, this told the bittersweet story of how the Bangs formed to be an all-girl pop-rock group, managed to impress IRS' Miles Copeland, amended their name to something better, and finally hit the top in the 1980s, until Susannah Hoffs became seen as separate to the others. When she tried a solo career, it died a death, and they reformed eventually.

Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends
A special concert put on last May at the Sondheim Theatre in London, and introduced by Sir Cameron Mackintosh. A great many people came on to do his songs, including legends like Judi Dench, Petula Clark and Julia McKenzie, but also a plethora of others like Michael Ball, Damian Lewis, Bonnie Langford, Rob Brydon, Hadyn Gwynne and Gary Wilmot. A fine tribute.

Artists Den presents James Bay
He went to the Webster Hall in New York in May 2019 and chatted a bit on stage, but mainly did material including familiar stuff like Hold Back The River and Best Fake Smile.

Rewind: MTV Push - The Hits
To coincide with their latest selections, a round-up of past suggestions, like Sigrid and Doha Cat and Billie Eilish and Gayle.

The Rise of the Virtual K-Pop Princess
How as well as real K-pop bands, there are also popular bands who are AI-generated or something. Sometimes the record companies do live broadcasts in which real girls have their features deepfaked so they can appear to be the virtual people. It all seems a bit silly to me.

We Are Freestyle Love Supreme
Finally got to see this, as Lin-Manuel Miranda and friends discuss their hip-hop improv collective, formed around 2005, who made a fateful run at the Edinburgh Festival, had some line-up changes, had to adjust when LMM became a success with In The Heights and of course Hamilton, but who were here reformed once more.

Toto - 40 Tours Around The Sun
From March 2018 at the ZiggoDome in Amsterdam, where Steve, Jeff and the others repeatedly praised the Dutch crowd for being so supportive over the years. It was quite a long gig, too, with an intriguing middle section where they talked about some lesser-played works, like Human Nature. Some of the versions of tracks, such as Africa, were really quite extended.

Dechrau Canu Dechrau Canmol - Owain Arwel Hughes at 80
A religious show, but looking at a conductor whose start in music was in a chapel choir, and started as a sort of conductor there at 15. His father was a composer, and his uncle wrote hymns too. He won the Ricordi Prize in 1965 too. Among music played were Tawel Nos (Silent Night), Adeste Fideles, and Cranham (In The Bleak Midwinter).

Dame Shirley Bassey at the BBC
Possibly seen this 2013 round-up, which featured performances from 1966 through to 2012. Often they played two songs together from the same shows. No copy must remain of the infamous Burn My Candle from 1959 or so.

Lwp - Curadur - Ifan Davies
The lead singer of Swnami mentioned that they had a 2nd album out. They bigged up Sywel Nyw, Malan and radio DJ Sian Eleri along the way.

Behind The Music: Alanis Morissette
The Canadian who will turn 50 next year was profiled back in 1999, so her parents and friends made up most of the chatter, though Alanis was able to carry her share. It's always bemusing that she had a successful teeny-bop career in Canada at the end of the 1980s before she decided it wasn't really her. 

Songs of Praise: Amazing Grace
The world-famous hymn was written in late 1772, so this show marked its 250th anniversary (though William Walker didn't put the familiar tune to John Newton's words until 1847). Newton was a curate in Olney, so the show mostly came from there.

Top of the Pops Party
Presented by Radio Fab's premier DJs, Smashey & Nicey, this show was listed as coming from early 1994, which would have made it as marking the show's 30th anniversary. However the inclusion of tracks like Baby One More Time and Spinning Around pointed to something else. In fact, it was from 2001.

BBC 100 Women: In Conversation - Billie Eilish
Megha Mohan talked to the still-rising American pop star on the last night of her tour about her close family, wanting to direct her own videos, experiencing impostor syndrome and climate anxiety. She had a documentary on Apple. Katy Perry offered her a shoulder to lean on. She seems a more interesting character than many others.

Britain's Favourite Party Songs
A somewhat random rundown of 35 songs which specifically are associated with dance moves or routines. So obvious things like The Twist, Can Can and Superman (Gioca Joeur), but also (I've Had The) Time Of My Life and Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) and Jai Ho (You Are My Destiny) which in some cases are popular to be copied at somewhat boisterous weddings. Contributors ranged from reliable favourites like Paul Gambaccini and Robert Elms, through to those with some experience of dances, like Janetta Manrara and Bonnie Langford.

Gig Y Pafiliwn
From Tregaron, the 2022 Eisteddfod Pavilion Gig, where the Welsh Pops Orchestra provided backing to sets from bands like Alffa, Mellt, Adwaith and Gwilym.

Michael Ball & Alfie Boe - Viva Las Vegas
Boe had done (or was doing) a show at the Westgate Theatre, so he and his pal did various familiar ideas like taking a gondola ride, taking a night-time helicopter ride over the city, visiting the Neon Museum or the 2nd highest ferris wheel in the world, or taking to Wayne "Mr Las Vegas" Newton. There were some Elvis overtones to much of their antics, and they sang several songs associated with him, but they also did Bat Out Of Hell, Luck Be a Lady Tonight and The Gambler.

Lwp - Curadur - Iqra Malik
She's part of Artshawty mainly, but also a project called Siula with Llion Robertson, whom she chatted to. She also met Pansa Fouladi and Aisha Kigs. She was intrigued on being bilingual and trying to reflect her Pakistani background in the mix. She said she only started doing music seriously during lockdown in 2020, so she's come a long way in a short time.

Behind The Music: DMX
Originally from 2010, though updated with an interview he gave to some BET show in 2019, and ultimately covering his 2021 death too. He never quite got over his rough start, even when he experienced fame and success. For all the talk of #1 albums though, it was said he had over a dozen kids from outside his rocky marriage.

Belladrum '22
Another round-up including Shed Seven, Dreadzone, Manran, Tide Lines, Blue Rose Code and another look at Nile Rodgers & Chic.

Witness - Madame White Snake
To Shanghai and a huai opera company on very reduced circumstances, facing the demolition of their home/theatre space. Then covid happens. The story mostly centres on Zhou Guixiang, prime singer and organiser. Things end on a positive note as the company find a new base to work from.

Behind The Beat - Rap Special - Public Enemy: Bring The Noise
From the Hammersmith Odeon in 1988, Chuck and Flav thrill the crowd with many of their biggest and best numbers. Terminator X spins the decks.

Terry Coldwell - My Career in Music
Amusing reflections from one of the "other" guys from East 17. He told tales about how they went from videos made on a tight budget, to preferring the snowy version of Stay Another Day, to the last two tracks which I don't think I've heard or heard of before, which was a surprise.

In Concert - David Crosby and Graham Nash
A short spell from 1970, with tracks like Marrakech Express and Teach Your Children, but also less familiar numbers like A Tree With No Leaves. I don't think much of Nash anyway, but Crosby came across well, which is what you'd hope for from a tribute as repeat.

Aled a Russell - Gala Llangollen
They performed at some festival last year. There was much performance, with a brief spot from Anoushka Shankar around the middle, plus presenter Nia Roberts chatted briefly to Anoushka and Russell, and then quite a lot to Aled. 

Attenborough's Wonder of Song
The naturalist takes an hour to look at seven important tunes from the animal kingdom. Mostly birds, but also including the humpback whale. There was a long closing section on the fame of nightingales, how the BBC's first bird call broadcast was of a nightingale in 1924, but those birds have had to leave London since then. Though there are re-wilding projects trying to increase numbers.